Two Bellevue women attacked; suspects sought

Updated 11:43 am, Tuesday, March 13, 2012

An sketch released Tuesday of a man suspected of robbing a woman Friday night at her home.

An sketch released Tuesday of a man suspected of robbing a woman Friday night at her home.

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A King County Sheriff's Office sketch of the man suspected of sexually assaulting a woman late Saturday in the 100 block of Northeast 165th Place in Shoreline.

A King County Sheriff's Office sketch of the man suspected of sexually assaulting a woman late Saturday in the 100 block of Northeast 165th Place in Shoreline.

Photo: Courtesy Of King County Sheriff's Office

Two Bellevue women attacked; suspects sought

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Bellevue police are investigating a pair of weekend attacks on women at their homes.

In both cases, a woman was held up as she entered her home by as-yet unidentified men. Both women lost their purses to the robber.

While the attacks were similar, the suspect descriptions given by the alleged victims were not, Bellevue Police Detective Tory Mangoine said in a statement. A gun was only reported in one of the attacks.

“It is unknown if the two cases are related given the difference in the victims description,” the detective said. “However, given the proximity of location and time, it is possible that it is the same suspect in both cases.”

At 10:10 p.m. Friday, a woman had returned to her home in the 5300 block of 134th Avenue Southeast when her assailant followed her through the open garage door. Her child in her car when her assailant pulled a pistol and demanded her purse.

The man fled with the purse – a black and white canvass shoulder bag – and absconded before police arrived.

At 11:20 p.m. the following night, a woman had parked in the 4600 block of 158th Avenue Southeast when a man approached from the rear of her car and demanded her purse.

As the woman began to back away, the man grabbed her purse then fled. The man was not located. No gun was reported as being used in this case.

The suspect in the first robbery is described as a black male in his mid-40s with black hair and brown eyes. The victim described him as about 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing about 170 pounds; he was wearing a black beret, dark sweater, black leather jacket and dark pants.

The suspect in the second attack was described as a black male in his 20’s with a shaved head approximately. He was about 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing around 160 pounds with a muscular build. He was wearing a puffy black jacket.

Anyone with information related to this crime is asked to call the Bellevue Police Department at 425-452-6917 or 911.

The Bellevue attacks coincided with the rape of a Shoreline woman who was sexually assaulted at gunpoint as she returned home from work at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Like the first Bellevue woman, the Shoreline woman had pulled into her driveway in the 100 block of Northeast 165th Place and just opened her garage door. The assailant approached and called out to her as she walked toward the garage, and then struck her with a handgun, a King County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman said in a statment.

The man dragged her into the garage and sexually assaulted her. He took the victim's purse and other personal items before fleeing when another man in a nearby car yelled that someone was coming.

The suspect in that attack was described as a black man in his 30s, standing 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall. He had short hair and a slight mustache, and spoke with a Jamaican accent.

The woman reported he had yellow teeth and smelled like alcohol. He was wearing a black leather jacket with an emblem on the left breast.

The attacker fled in a vehicle described as an older, olive-green four-door with black stripes down the side. Police had no description of the second man in the car.

Anyone with information on the Shoreline attack is asked to call the King County Sheriff's Office Special Assault Unit at (206) 296-7557 or the 24-hour communications center line at (206) 296-3311.